Democrats ahead in fundraising in Virginia Eastern Shore races: Report

The Daily Times

The Democratic candidates for General Assembly are ahead in fundraising, according to second quarter reporting of donations.

Sen. Lynwood Lewis addresses the crowd in Exmore, Virginia on Friday, June 1, 2018.

Democrat Lynwood Lewis, the incumbent in the Senate District 6 race, raised $16,860 from 47 donors during the reporting period and had $75,030 on hand as of June 30, according to the non-profit Virginia Public Access Project.

Republican challenger Elizabeth Lankford, who recently declared her candidacy, has raised $35,650, including 35,000 from three donors — Thomas E. Lankford, C. Frederick Lankford and Friends of Tommy Norment.

In the House of Delegates District 100 race, challenger Phil Hernandez, a Democrat, announced his campaign set a record for the most money raised in the district in the month of June.

Elizabeth Lankford, Republican, is running for the 6th District Virginia Senate seat.

Hernandez raised $95,749 from 1,383 donors and had $151,353 on hand on June 30, according to VPAP.org.

Hernandez said the funds raised are a show of support that "signals an eagerness for change."

"I knock on hundreds of doors every single week all across this district," Hernandez said.

Phil Hernandez is running as a Democrat for the District 100 House of Delegates seat.

Republican Rob Bloxom, the incumbent, raised $475 during the reporting period and had $25,536 on hand on June 30. He had $38,058 in the campaign coffers as of May 31.

Del. Rob Bloxom addresses the crowd in Exmore, Virginia on Friday, June 1, 2018.

Statewide, "Republican legislative candidates still hold a cash advantage heading into the November elections, but Democratic candidates have nearly closed the gap," according to VPAP.org.

As of June 30, Republican candidates for the House of Delegates had a collective cash balance on hand of $6.4 million, compared to Democrats' $6.2.

At the same time in 2017, before the last election, Republicans had $6.5 million, compared to Democrats' $2.8 million.

Republican candidates for the Virginia Senate have a cash balance of $4.9 million, compared to $4.5 million for Democrats.

This graphic shows cash balances for Republican and Democratic legislative candidates in Virginia as of June 30, 2019.

That puts Democrats ahead of where they were at the same time before the 2015 election, when Republicans had $4.6 million and Democrats had $3.2 million.

The election is on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

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